


Liam and the Real Boy

by Orendaandthestars



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A Little Supernatural AU, A little angst, Human AU, M/M, Mild Language, Theo Raeken is a Plastic Doll, Thiam, a little fluff, it's not as bad as it sounds, lars and the real girl au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:08:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27775867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orendaandthestars/pseuds/Orendaandthestars
Summary: Theo didn't know how it happened but he wakes up one day and finds himself in a doll's body. A male sex doll's body.What the fuck?
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 9
Kudos: 25





	1. Liam

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!
> 
> Inspired and loosely based on the film Lars and the Real Girl with a little supernatural thing mixed into it, loved the film and if you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. Maybe after you read this? *wink wink*
> 
> Also a few references on The Velveteen Rabbit which I think everybody should read and cry for.
> 
> Rated Mature for the mention of sex doll. But nothing non-consensual or distasteful really happens I promise. It's actually kind of angsty and fluffy.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if it's creepy or funny or whatever. I feel like I've lost a little of my filter when I wrote this. Gah.

Theo didn't know how it happened but he wakes up one day and finds himself in a doll's body. A _male sex_ doll's body. One of those really expensive kinds you order online with the skin and the real life hair and pretty eyes.

_What the fuck?_

Last thing he remembers are glimpses, this overwhelming darkness like liquid that consumed him, like a weak flood starting from his feet to his hands then his whole body, until it's in his face and then everything's gone, and then a blinding light. 

_Is he dead? But not really?_

Because he sees himself in the mirror, seated on the bed in a forever pose, but he can't seem to speak or move. And he hears this boy beside him talking. _To him._ A doll. A _sex_ doll. Again, _what the fuck?_

Theo wants to chuck this to a bad-- no, a horrible, horrible Kafka-like shit-ton nightmare. And he guesses. He hopes. He really really hopes and swears on his own mother's soul that he'll wake up soon. Anytime now.

But he doesn't. Because he's already awake. 

_Shit._

"Do you want to have dinner?" The boy says to him. _Him. A doll. What?_ Theo thinks. He'd probably roll his eyes and look at this boy in his most incredulous expression if he could. God, what would he give to be able to express sarcasm again.

"Alright, I know you like pasta. So I made you my specialty, _Gambas Al Ajillo."_ The boy says with a really big smile on his face. _Theo hates shrimp._

The boy goes out of the room and returns with a wheelchair. _He obviously is prepared for this,_ Theo thinks. The boy slowly approached Theo's lifeless sex doll body, and looked at him like he was waiting for Theo to nod or something. A few moments he seems to be satisfied with a _non-answer_ answer and carries him gently to the wheelchair and wheels him off to what seems to be the kitchen, in front of a dining table, complete with a perfectly plated and a healthy serving of shrimp pasta. _It looks good,_ Theo thinks and maybe it smelled good if only he could smell it, _or eat it._ But he can't obviously. _He's a fucking doll._

Theo feels himself getting seriously angry now, _why the hell is this happening to him?_ Has he done something incredibly wrong in his past life that the universe is tormenting him in such an elaborate manner, and really creative if he had to admit, did he kill babies or steal from old people? No, no, he was just an office worker. _A fucking accountant._ Hell, if someone deserved to be punished this way, it wasn't an accountant. _Wait, is this hell?_

The boy seems to know Theo can't really reach for the fork on the table, he just doesn't know if the boy feeds him himself because he knows Theo can't or if he's trying to be romantic. Because Theo thinks that this boy thinks this is a _date._ And Theo thinks that this boy thinks that he is his _boyfriend._

_Shit. This is bad. Really bad._

Theo is starting to panic now. Internally of course, if he could he'd throw the fucking Gambas Al Ajillo at this boy's really pretty face and sprint the hell away from this hell hole. 

But he can't. Obviously. So he resorts to snide remarks the boy really can't hear.

_Mmm. Your cooking is shit._ Theo thinks while the boy feeds him, like literally feeds him and the pasta falls from his slightly opened mouth onto the bib-like basin the boy consciously strapped onto his neck. _What a fucking waste of shitty pasta._ Theo thinks as another forkful falls inside the bib. 

The boy seems to be happy to have a conversation without really having a conversation because he suddenly hushes like he didn't want anybody else to hear what they _weren't_ talking about when someone enters the kitchen, it seems to be the boy's mother, Theo realizes. 

_Help! Help! I'm trapped in a sex doll's body and this crazy person is feeding me shit pasta!_ Theo shouts and tries to move his arms to wave at the woman. Unfortunately he can't. _He can't._ And it hits Theo again with an overwhelming sadness. 

"Liam, honey, I think Miguel needs a shower before going to bed, okay?" She said as she ruffled the boy's head and kissed it. _Liam._ That's his name. _Shit. She's in on it too!_ Theo realizes and tsks in frustration, if he could tsk.

The boy, _Liam,_ surprisingly is a pretty good kid, Theo observes, he follows his mom's word and wheels him into the bathroom after cleaning up the pasta spilled everywhere and doing the dishes. "This'll only take a minute." He says to Theo. Miguel? _It's not like I'm going anywhere._ Theo thinks, rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time today, in his new body, if he could roll them. He's gently washing Theo in the tub now, half naked, still with his underwear on. Liam seemed to be a little flushed and embarrassed while he gently wipes the tomato sauce off of Theo's doll face. "I hope the water isn't too cold." Liam says to him, wiping a piece of sauce in his eye. _That'll probably sting and blind me if I was human._ Theo thought. _Good thing whatever curse this is, I can't feel shit._

Liam's reading to him now as he's laying in bed, a picture book of all things. He tells Theo it's one of his favorites, The Velveteen Rabbit. _How apropos._ Theo thinks. _I hope my hair or my skin or my eye doesn't fall off from being loved too much._ Theo's cringing internally at the thought of being loved too much. He hopes this Liam boy doesn't love him the way he's doll self is _supposed to be_ loved. 

Liam doesn't, Theo realizes because he tucks Theo's-- Miguel's? body into the duvet. Like he doesn't want his feet to get cold and freeze in the September night.

Liam yawns, "Let's sleep? You look pretty tired too. You've been yawning since forever." He says with a comforting smile. _When did I ever yawn?_ Theo scoffs. _And can I even fall asleep? Oh god, I really hope so. I don't think I can stare at this awful popcorn ceiling all night._ Theo dreads.

Theo finds out he can't. 

  
  


\---

  
  


A few days go by and Theo is being wheeled off to the boy's SUV, carefully being strapped into the passenger seat. The neighbors seem to be glad to greet _them_ good morning, to _him_ and Liam. _Shit. The whole town's in on it too._ Theo thought after worrying it a bit when Liam excitedly came into his room and told him to get dressed because they were going out for a doctor's appointment, because Theo-- Miguel, is sick apparently. _No, they'll think you're crazy Liam._ Theo thought. He would've wanted to just stay there in bed and look at the ceiling if it meant Liam won't be stared and pointed fingers at. 

He realized Liam's not so bad. He could be worse. Theo could have woken to a total pervert but Liam seemed to genuinely care for Theo's well being, they sometimes watched movies together and Liam never failed to make him his own popcorn. "One bowl is never enough and I know you don't like sharing food." Liam quipped. To that Theo just responded with a snarky _How did you know?_ But would've appreciated it were he actually real and if they were actually dating. Liam also baked him a red velvet cake, since it was Theo's-- Miguel's birthday the day before and Liam's whole family did a surprise birthday party, hiding behind chairs and under tables, a banner, the whole works, when Liam wheeled him inside the living room area. 

The people seemed to be waving at Liam as he drove past them. Theo thinks maybe this is an alternate dimension. An alternate Beacon Hills. A different universe where it's completely normal to date dolls. 

Theo finds out later that Liam has a condition, _schizoid personality disorder._ The doctor asks Liam's mother how he is after she pretends to check Theo's vitals, Liam is in the other room waiting for them to finish up. It seems that Liam is a really shy boy and has a hard time forming emotional relationships with human people from what Theo had gathered, and his mother getting married recently caused a huge change in Liam. So he develops a delusion, Miguel, to work through something he's clearly having a hard time going through. And the whole town's in on it as a form of therapy. Theo couldn't help but feel bad for thinking Liam was batshit crazy because he's clearly a really sweet and kind human being that's having a hard time living in the real world. Theo apologizes to him when he sees Liam greeting him.

  
  


\---

  
  


Theo finds himself a few nights after in a karaoke bar doing a duet with Mason, Liam's neighbor, and he's singing off-key to Britney's Hit Me Baby One More Time, Mason keeps on shoving the mic to Theo's face every other line like it was his turn. Theo hates karaoke. He can't sing for shit. 

Theo finds himself _not doing_ things he doesn't like doing more and more. Liam's neighbors and friends seem to enjoy Theo's-- Miguel's non-presence and invite him everywhere _without_ Liam. Like shopping or lunch. One time they even brought him to watch a film. In an actual cinema. _That he liked._ Except for Scott's horrible film choice, Sharknado 4. Theo wouldn't be caught dead watching the three other Sharknados.

They're really into it. Theo thought. He can't help but feel a phantom squeeze in his chest if he had a heart at how much people love Liam to go through this for him. To treat Theo-- Miguel like he's a real person.

  
  


Theo doesn't want to admit that there are things he enjoys about this whole nightmarish ordeal, and they're the quiet afternoons with Liam, where he explains to him how coding works, where he lets Theo-- Miguel read and turns the page for him minutes later, and plays Uno with him but always lets him win every round. "Uno again? Dammit!" Liam yells, throwing his remaining twenty cards on the table. _You brought this on yourself, Liam._ Theo thinks and rolls his eyes, if he can roll them, but he can't help but feel a bit amused. _Cute._ Theo thinks. 

  
  


\---

  
  


Liam is mad at him. For some reason he's yelling at him. Clearly upset over something he did, or _didn't do_ obviously. _Why are you shouting?_ Theo thinks, a little worried now. He's never seen Liam this way before. If he had real ears, they'd probably hurt. Liam's mom goes inside his room frantic and tells him off, she tells him to apologize to _Miguel_ and that he shouldn't talk to him this way. The confrontation seems to shake Liam out of his fit but he's still angry, Theo can see from the balled fists and white knuckles. His mother staring at him with her arms crossed as if waiting for Liam to do what he's asked to do. But he runs. He bolts out of the room and out of the house. The front door shutting loudly. Theo internally winces. 

"I'm sorry about him." His mother tells him with a remorseful expression. They all seem to forget he's not real. He doesn't really feel hurt. He can't. _He shouldn't._ Theo thinks. _He really shouldn't._

Liam comes back quietly a few hours later. Slowly creeping into Theo's room. As if he's checking if Theo's already asleep as he laid there on the bed all tucked in thanks to Liam's mother. "I'm sorry for getting angry." Liam whispered as he sat on the edge of the bed. He can't seem to look at Theo-- _Miguel._ "You didn't deserve that." He whispered and this time glanced at Theo. His eyes are wet and puffy as if he's been crying for a while. Theo wants to reach for him, he wants to put his arms around him and tell him it's okay. _It's gonna be okay._ That he doesn't mind it. _You can tell me anything._

But he can't. So he stares at the popcorn ceiling. Waiting for the morning light to creep up while Liam slept beside him.

  
  


\---

  
  


Theo doesn't see Liam as much in the next few days, it's surprising but both of them become really busy. Liam seems to be making a few new friends, playing video games with his neighbor and binge watching the Sharknado saga with Scott at his place. What's even more surprising is that Theo-- _Miguel_ has an _itinerary_ everyday now. Now that people have been accepting of Liam's condition, it has unleashed the Kraken of whatever social sea beast this town has turned into, they've become really really into it and they invite Theo-- _Miguel_ to _participate_ in everything they can think of. 

_A little overdoing it, don't you think?_ Theo thought when they wheeled him inside a laser tag place. _What in the hell?_ Theo was in his wheelchair complete with the vest thing and a gun propped on his arms, and he's just sitting there in the middle of the whole thing while everybody's shooting everybody else, sounds of people around him getting _tagged_ and dying. _Except for him._ _If I ever get out of this sick joke of a nightmare, I'll play the shit out of this game._ Theo growled to himself. He never wanted anything more than to be included in this in all his life. He hates being a doll, _why couldn't he have been like Chuckie?_ At least Chuckie _lived_ his mass murdering spree of a life. 

  
  


\---

  
  


"We're going on a picnic!" Liam yelled as he stomped excitedly on the wooden floors to Theo's bedroom. "I've missed you." He smiled at him and wheeled him outside as fast as he could, like they were doing some wheelchair derby. Theo would've been whiplashed by Liam's excitement. If he had an actual neck. 

Theo wished he could feel the breeze on his plastic skin while Liam drove to the Preserve. Liam had prepared them a picnic basket and a soft wool blanket he placed carefully on the meadow beside the creek. A fancy cheese platter and red wine beside them as they sat. It was nice. Theo was impressed. If Theo were an actual human being it would've been a really romantic setting. He had to hand it to Liam. It felt like Liam was gonna propose. _Shit. Was he gonna propose?_ Theo didn't know if this was crazy bad news he should feel mortified about or was it some form of consolation because if this was his life now, a living consciousness of a lifeless plastic doll, he might as well spend it with Liam. _There are worse circumstances._ Theo thought. _Why not?_ _Liam loves him._

Before Theo could say his 'I do'. He finds himself suddenly submerged in water. Everything was blurry but he can see Liam's face panicking above him and crying. Was he drowning? Was he _supposed to be_ drowning? Theo thought. 

_What the hell is happening?_

  
  


His funeral was a solemn affair. Theo didn't expect there would be so many people to come and pay their respects. To say goodbye to _him._ Bringing him flowers and even making him a slightly tacky slideshow presentation of the time he's spent with them. And for Liam to cry for him. Because Liam clearly _killed_ him. Theo never felt so betrayed in his life. How could he do this to him? Theo thought. _I thought you loved me? Well, some fucking love this is._ He scoffed as he laid inside the maroon colored coffin in a very nice suit, Liam pressing a soft kiss on his plastic lips as he said good bye.

It seemed that Liam no longer needed him, Theo had realized. And he wasn't supposed to feel angry or betrayed or disappointed. _Or heart broken._ Because he was a plastic doll. But he did. 

_What if it was him who needed Liam?_

Theo couldn't help but cry a bit at his own funeral. If he had tears. 

  
  


It was dark and it felt cramp. It _seemed_ cramp. Theo thought while they were shovelling dirt atop his coffin. He'd never thought he'd get to experience in his boring ass accountant life how it was to be buried alive. It felt cramp. 

Was this Theo's eternity now? Won't he at least get to see the light creeping through the popcorn ceiling and how it changes colors as the sun sets? Won't he get to play Uno with Liam again? Or hear his voice when he tells him that when your hair falls off, when your color fades and when your eyes drop out, that's how it means to be loved, to be _really really_ loved, that's what it means to be _real._ What Theo would give to watch another awful Sharknado.

Theo feeling resigned, thought he might as well try to sleep. Feeling his eyes close in the darkness. Deciding to spend time in an eternity of sleep. 

So he sleeps.

  
  



	2. The Real Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo finally awakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> Thank you so much for giving this story the time of day. You don't know how much it means to me. Like a lot a lot. A lot.
> 
> Here's the promised fluff. I dunno if it's fluffy enough but welp. I hope you enjoy.

Theo wakes up to a blaring sound. It was his alarm clock on the bedside table. It was seven in the morning. 

_What the fuck?_

_What just happened? Was that a dream?_ Theo thought as he scrambled out of bed and rushed in front of a mirror, patting and rubbing and pinching and slapping frantically at his cheeks, his arms, his legs, clutching and pulling his hair to make sure he could feel the grip, the strands, the pain, the discomfort. He had never felt so glad to feel the stinging pain from all the slapping and hair pulling in his life. 

The feel of his fingertips, a deep breath.

_I'm alive._ Theo thought.

He rushed to the kitchen for a drink, one glass after another. A pitcher of juice. A carton of milk. He had never felt so thirsty in all his life. The cold air from the refrigerator wafted on his face as he started ransacking the whole thing, scarfing down a whole pan of leftover casserole, no longer bothering to chew. It was disgusting if someone would've seen him. He looked insane, food all over his shirt, smeared on his face, on the floor. Food to mouth, food to mouth. He was disgusting and he loved it because it meant he was alive.

He could still feel the phantom claustrophobia, the really cramped feeling from being buried in a coffin. So he rushes to the balcony looking like a messy two year old child and breathes in deep. He has never been so happy to smell the smoke with the trees and city piss of downtown Beacon Hills. Because it meant he was alive. 

"AAAHHHH!" Theo screamed. He definitely looked like an overgrown petulant and messy two year old child, or an insane person but he didn't care. A few weird looks turned his way from below his apartment, a loud _Shut up!_ yelled from somewhere. Theo couldn't help but smile.

"Time to go to work."

He didn't know how he could still stomach a cup of coffee after downing the entire inventory of beverages he had in his refrigerator but he couldn't help the want, the itch, to feel the warmth of the mug and the slightly bitter taste of the dark liquid as he sipped. Already dressed in a crisp shirt and slacks and idly perusing through the morning news channels. Chucking the Kafka-like shit-ton experience to a nightmare. It was _just_ a nightmare. An elaborately curated nightmare meant to slightly torture him but a nightmare nonetheless. _It was what it was,_ Theo thought. There was no waking up and living as a plastic doll. No popcorn ceiling. No The Velveteen Rabbit-- that might have been a weird concoction of his mind because he knows that story. He definitely knows that story. He thinks. 

_And no Liam._

No Liam. _Shit._ Theo couldn't help but sigh a really heavy sigh. In his head's weird universe, he liked this Liam. He couldn't help but like the way he spoke to him and told him things and spent time with him like he was the world. How bright blue his eyes were and so earnest and sincere. _It's unreal._ He's beginning to accept it and move on with his life. It's obviously unreal. Until he sees a segment on the local news announcing the recent funeral of a certain plastic doll a few days ago.

Theo spits his coffee.

He couldn't believe it. _What. In. The. Hell._ The dark liquid dripped on his crisp shirt while he gaped on the TV screen, seeing his plastic doll self in a coffin, the surreality of what had happened had actually happened and it was finally hitting him. And it hit him like a fucking freight train. No. No. Theo was shaking his head.

_No. No. No._

_This can't be true. Was I actually the living consciousness of a plastic doll? For months? How could that even happen?_

Theo couldn't help but giggle. A 'Hihi', 'Hihihi' sound escaping his lips that turned quickly to a 'HAHAHAHA', 'HAHAHAHAHA'. Manic. Feeling the wetness behind his eyes. He was laughing so hard he was practically sprawled on the floor. He was gonna be sick. _What kind of sick joke was this?_ He asked the universe. 

  
  


He didn't know what came over him but now he's hiding in his truck a few houses away from Liam's house. It wasn't hard to find, the streets from his past doll life were distinctly familiar. He knew the suburbs. He knew the town. He used to live in this neighborhood.

_What the fuck am I doing here?_ Theo asked himself, ducking low in the driver seat with his dark sunglasses and coffee stained shirt. Instead of going to work, he was spying on a boy who may or may not be real. _We're just gonna check on him. We're gonna check if Liam is real and that I'm not crazy, then we'll leave. Okay? Okay._ And Liam doesn't even know who he is. He doesn't know his human self. Hell, he probably doesn't even know Miguel isn't real. 

Theo was having an argument in his head, a huge part of him just wanted to get the hell away and never come back and pretend it never happened. Go to the office. Do work. Check the figures of some account he was handling. Eat lunch. Some small talk at the break room. Check instagram. _Safe._ Safe and alive. _All great points, brain._ Theo thought. But he couldn't push the slight inkling he wanted to see Liam. He wanted to shout at him for killing him off and burying him in such a cramp space _after everything._ How much it hurt to be abandoned and thrown away. He wanted to yell at him how much he fucking _misses_ him and he hated it. 

Okay, it wasn't a slight inkling, it was more like a blaring siren. _Shit._

Shit! Theo sees Liam stepping out of the house. His whole body suddenly went stiff and he couldn't move. His heart was beating so fast he could hear it, it felt like it sank to his stomach, his palms were cold and clammy and numb. Everything felt numb. 

It's taking everything in Theo to not run to him and yell at him and punch him in the face and hug him tightly. It's taking everything in Theo to start the engine and drive back. His knuckles growing white at the grip of the steering wheel he couldn't let go.

And so he drove. Before he couldn't help it anymore.

  
  


It's been months and Theo's adjusting pretty well to the mundane if he had to pat himself in the back. Chucking the whole thing to a weird torturous nightmare was the best decision of his goddamn life. Drinking coffee in the break room, talking the shit with the audit guys and a Subway sandwich in his hand was the pinnacle of normalcy he wanted to achieve in his life. _It was perfect._ Theo chose to shrug at everything. Living once as a plastic doll? Theo shrugged at that. Being loved like he was the whole world? Theo shrugged at that. Being killed off like a side character of some bad soap opera? Theo shrugged the most shrug he could ever shrug. He was finally moving on and _living._

Living was an overstatement, a technicality, but it was true nonetheless. At least he could taste food now.

  
  


So it came like an anvil falling on his head and crushing his skull when he saw Liam at the goddamn grocery store. Concussion be damned. Innocently checking out boxes of cereal. Theo's stomach flipped, his mouth suddenly felt dry. Liam looked good. He looked _okay._ Theo was clutching a huge bag of Lay's Original potato chips over his face and the grocery basket hanging on his arm while he tried to seem as inconspicuous as possible while he peeked at Liam while he placed a few boxes of cereal into his cart. He didn't know Liam liked Wheat Chex.

_He's not gonna follow him. He ain't no creep,_ Theo thought. 

He's following him. He's a creep.

Theo's still shopping. Just a quick glance here and there at Liam, he's grabbing a pack of gouda cheese. Theo's following him a little but he's still putting items in his basket. Now that he's a living, breathing human being, he gets hungry. And he needs to stock up just in case he wakes up like a deranged hungry person and decides to down the entire contents of his refrigerator again. He hopes not. But he needs to prepare since the universe keeps on fucking him over. Gouda cheese? Sounds _gouda_ to him. Theo winces internally, _why was he so annoying in his head?_ Well he likes gouda cheese too so he puts it in his basket. He's shopping after all.

When he glanced back a few moments after placing the gouda cheese into his basket and maybe string cheese too, _don't judge,_ to where he last saw Liam checking out boxes of pasta, Liam was nowhere to be found. 

_Shit, I lost him._ Theo thought, turning his head around anxiously, trying to find the familiar head of brown hair and blue eyes. When he suddenly turned around he found Liam behind him.

"Gah!" Theo yelped. Startled at the sudden presence, almost dropping the box of pasta from his hand.

"Are you following me?" Liam asked him in a clear tone, his eyebrows raised, blue eyes fucking piercing his soul. _Oh god._ Theo didn't know he could melt inside by just a few words with that voice. Heck, Liam could say _Zimbabwe_ and Theo would be a puddle.

_Oh no, he thinks I'm a stalker._

"I'm Miguel!" Theo blurted out, panicked.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

_Liam doesn't know Miguel isn't real!_

Liam was looking at him with a clear weirded out expression, eyebrows furrowing and jaw stiffening, he looked like he was about to cry. But it flicked quickly to anger. He could see Liam getting angry. 

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Liam said with a piercing tone.

"No-" Theo stuttered and he felt his mouth dry up. He's stunned at the hostile tone Liam held for him and he can't seem to get any words out.

"Get the fuck away from me." Liam said, he sounded tired, Theo thought. He watched silently as Liam turned his back against him. Theo felt his legs moving to catch up to Liam, suddenly grabbing his cart to a stop. 

"I'm the living consciousness of your ex-boyfriend!" Theo blurted again.

_That didn't remotely sound better,_ Theo cringed. He sounded insane.

"I know it sounds insane but I am! Well… _I was._ I don't know how it happened but I woke up in Miguel's body and you fed me pasta and bathed me and then drowned me which sucked and then you buried me which sucked some more but I'm telling you the truth!" Theo shouted all in one breath, panting as he gripped Liam's cart. 

But Liam was slowly backing away.

And now he's sprinting.

_Goddammit._

"Wait! Liam! I'm telling you the truth!" Theo yelled, chasing Liam, a few meters away from him. "We played Uno and you always let me win!"

Liam was still running but he wasn't as fast as Theo. Clearly panicked, he started throwing things at Theo now, in hopes of hampering Theo's pace. A pack of tissues. A box of pasta. A pack of granola bars. _At least they were light,_ Theo thought, expertly evading the grocery attacks when he was almost hit by a bottle of shampoo in the face. 

_Oh. We're playing dirty now? Fine._

Theo grabbed the bottle of shampoo on the floor and threw it at Liam, as a former football player, he was a pretty good shot. It hit Liam right in the shoulder which earned Theo a glare. 

_Uh-oh._ Theo gulped. He shouldn't have retaliated. Liam wasn't afraid to throw heavier things now. Grabbing a can of soup and hauling it at him now. But Liam didn't seem like he had a good aim, being shy and introverted and shit, _there's no way,_ Theo thought. Until the can of soup hit him in the stomach. 

"Ow! That hurt!" Theo growled. Grabbing this time a bag of oatmeal and hauling it at Liam as fast as he could, which unfortunately Liam quickly evaded like they were playing some angsty game of grocery dodgeball, and winning it meant inflicting as much pain as possible using as much commodities as possible. 

Minutes later of being crowded by unexpecting customers distracted from their own shopping, watching the onslaught, they're being hauled by security out of the grocery store to the parking lot-- but not before Liam threw an apple at his head.

Theo needed to find a new grocery store. 

"What the fuck is your problem?" Theo shouted at Liam's back as he went towards his SUV. 

"What the fuck is _your_ problem?!" Liam yelled as he turned around. He was seething. "You have no right to bring him- this- up!" He was gesturing to the air between them.

Theo exhaled. He understood. This was hard to deal with and he wasn't exactly _tactful._ And it probably didn't help that he was throwing things at him too. But what could he do? It was the truth and he had already said it. He couldn't take it back and chuck it to some sick joke for attention, not after what he had been through. Not after what _they_ had been through.

"When you are _Real_ you don't mind being hurt." Theo said, a little louder than he intended. Liam paused in his tracks and turned around.

"What?" Liam snapped, confused.

"You become." _Real._ Theo said softly. "By the time you are _Real,_ most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby." Theo said and Liam just looked at him speechless, realization starting to seep through, Theo's words slowly starting to make sense.

"But these things don't matter at all, because once you are _Real_ you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." Theo finished.

"Wha-" Liam tried to say something but he seemed shocked, disbelief in his tone. And worry. There was so much worry.

"That's what the Skin Horse said to the Rabbit when he asked him how it was," Theo gulped, "to be _Real."_ He looked at Liam in the eyes, in his bright blue eyes that always seemed unreal. He looked like he was about to cry. "You read it to me almost every night that I got so sick of it and unintentionally memorized it. It was what I missed the most when I couldn't see you anymore and it hurt, Liam." Theo sighed. "It hurt to be thrown away and buried." He could feel his eyes starting to sting.

Liam rushed to him and put his arms around him, hugging him tightly to the point where it felt like Theo couldn't breathe anymore. He didn't know if he couldn't breathe because of the embrace or because Liam finally understood. 

"I'm sorry." Liam gasped. "I'm so sorry." Theo could feel his shoulder getting wet. Liam was sobbing. "I didn't know if you were real." Liam explained. "I didn't know if my mind was playing tricks on me again." He said as he sniffed. "And nobody else knew the things you said and I- I freaked out. I- I've been going through therapy and medication, and I just thought I might be getting bad again and-" 

"Shh. Shh." Theo shushed him, caressing Liam's back in soothing circles as he hugged him back. "It's okay. I understand."

"It's not okay." Liam gripped him harder. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I threw you away, I didn't-" Liam cried. "I didn't mean to- I didn't know- it felt so real-" He grabbed Theo's shirt harder as he cried into his shoulder.

"Shh. It's okay now." Theo shushed soothingly. And it was. It was okay now. It happened and it hurt and he wanted to hurt him back but listening to Liam acknowledge what happened and finally feeling his warmth against him, and his gentle touch, all of the heartbreak felt like it evaporated. _It was okay now._ He was just really happy he could feel him. He was happy he was finally _real._

Liam mumbled something Theo didn't quite understand, the words muffled by Theo's shirt. "Hm?" Theo said softly. Liam moved his head a bit to look at Theo. "What's your name?" Liam asked, voice a little shy, a little embarrassed. To which Theo just chuckled. 

"Theo. I'm Theo."

"Theo." Liam repeated slowly, like he was testing the sound rolling off his tongue. He nodded. 

"Or you could call me Miguel if you like?" Theo said with a grin. Liam just pinched him in the arm. A small hiss escaping his lips. Liam mumbled something again and he looked flushed, but Theo couldn't really catch it. "What? You gotta speak up, bub." Theo asked with his eyebrows raised, looking expectantly at Liam.

"Can I kiss you?" Liam asked, averting his eyes. "Is- is that okay?" He said hesitantly, his cheeks red as a tomato. _Cute._ Theo thought.

"Yeah." Theo nodded with a smile. Liam leaned forward slowly, eyes fluttering close. 

"Just don't throw apples at me again." Theo whispered with a grin, interrupting the moment, Liam's eyes went wide, his whole face flushing a bright apple red and pulled away quickly. To which Theo grabbed him and pulled him closer, until they were chest to chest. Theo cupped Liam's face until Liam was looking back at him and pressed his lips onto Liam's softly. Liam kissed him back a few moments later, after the shock seemed to settle and it went from soft chaste kisses to hungry and wet real quick. Both tongues chasing each other, kissing deeply like the taste was finally satiating something starving inside them.

"Wow." Liam sighed after breaking the kiss, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Wow." Theo nodded with a smile, and leaned in for another quick kiss. Soft and warm.

  
  
  


Liam cleared his throat after a few moments of staring at each other's eyes and kiss-bitten lips, like he wasn't fully out of the daze wrapping them like a soft blanket. _"Uh…_ I still need to buy my mom pasta." Liam said quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Pasta again?" Theo groaned and Liam just pinched him again. Theo snickered. 

"Don't pretend you didn't like my _Gambas Al Ajillo."_ Liam rolled his eyes.

"I actually hate shrimp." Theo admitted, a gasp escaping Liam's lips.

_"What?!"_

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I make a sequel or like an epilogue? Hmmm...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If your kudos and comments had eyes or hair or skin, they'll probably fall off because I love them so so so so much.


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